Dancing toward a healthy life

by Morgan Smith

Kaleb Walls and his mom, LaShawn Walls, lead students in Sharon Elementary’s after-school program in the Let’s Move! Flash Workout. (Morgan Smith/SCW photo)

“DJ, drop that beat!” shouted students from Sharon Elementary School on Friday, cueing Kaleb Walls, aka DJ Whoota, to hit the music and kick off the Beyonce Knowles dance session.

The 19-year-old disc jockey, along with his little brother, Isaiah, and their mom, LaShawn, has been visiting area schools and local after-school programs since October teaching dance through their campaign Let’s Move! In After School.  The program came about partly as a way for the two to deal with their own childhood obesity, but also to encourage other students to do the same.

Kaleb Walls, who has been obese since third grade, knows how important helping others with obesity can be. He’s used to the picking and bullying.

“When it came down to my senior year, I kind of shook it off,” he said. “But certain people, they don’t shake it off too well.”

Walls eventually got fed up with it all, and, wanting to change his lifestyle, began jogging every day during his senior year of high school.

“Pretty soon, I went from like 240 pounds all the way down to 193 – and that’s a big jump,” he said. Something had clicked for Walls, and he wanted the same to happen for other people. “After that, I was like man, we got to figure out a way to get kids to slim up so they don’t have to go through being picked on. I can see myself in some of the kids – I went through a lot in elementary, middle and high school.”

Walls describes his kid-self as troublesome, smart and obese, giving other children reason to pick on him.

“Many kids get picked on for many different reasons, and I can actually relate to that, and I can also help them get out of that.”

So what better way to help fight childhood obesity than to be active? And what’s  the best active activity? Dance. That’s the motto of the Walls family. No need for a gym membership or expensive workout equipment. All you need is music and your best dance moves.

That’s why they created Let’s Move! In After School. The Walls were initially inspired by WAT-AAH!, a bottled water brand for kids and teens promoting health and nutrition, and the main sponsor of the campaign. The family first heard of WAT-AAH! when the company sponsored the family’s Back to School Jam, another initiative they like to do to make sure community children are provided with new school supplies.

After researching WAT-AAH!, the family found the company was highly involved in the National Association of Broadcasters Education Foundation’s Let’s Move! Flash Workout, a pre-choreographed dance and exercise routine performed to the Beyonce song titled “Move Your Body.” The dance was created in support of First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! initiative to help curb childhood obesity.

“We thought, ‘That’s something I can do!’ because we can relate to that,” Walls said. “And now, we’re pushing it throughout North Carolina and hoping to see it spread across the nation because we want every kid to be healthy.”

And the boys’ dream seems to be coming true. Their viral after-school program campaign was recently announced as a national campaign sponsored by WAT-AAH! and the family will be going on a tour throughout the South in the near future.

“We don’t know all the details yet, but we are working with DTLR here in Charlotte to plan a tour because they already have community and after-school connections,” LaShawn Walls said. DTLR is a retail store that also helped sponsor the Walls’ Back to School Jam.

As for now, Let’s Move! In After School is already booked through the summer, visiting several south Charlotte schools including Lansdowne I.B., Beverly Woods Elementary, McKee Road Elementary, Providence Spring Elementary and Greenway Park Elementary.

“Our central office … told us about this group and gave us the information and it was up to us to call if we wanted to,” Belinda Ingram, the after-school director at Sharon Elementary, said.  “And the reason I called was actually kind of personal because I had just started on a weight loss journey in October and I was like ‘Oh, cool! This would be good for the kids.’”

Ingram said many of the students suffer from childhood obesity and health problems such as diabetes and high blood pressure. She also was inspired by the Walls brothers.

The students “love it – and you know everybody loves Beyonce,” Ingram said.

Evie O’Donnell, a fourth grader a Sharon Elementary, said she loves the Let’s Move! program and has learned a lot from it.

“Kids and adults should stay fit and usually I don’t have the opportunity to move and dance with my friends,” she said.

Students learned many types of dances including the Cat Daddy and the Dougie.